The invention relates to a display device comprising an electro-optical medium between a first supporting plate and a second supporting plate, which display device is provided with row electrodes on the first supporting plate and column electrodes on the second supporting plate. A number of pixels which are arranged in rows and columns, a pixel being defined by picture electrodes on surfaces of the supporting plates facing each other, the picture electrode on the first supporting plate being coupled to a row electrode via a first, non-linear two-pole switching element, and to an auxiliary row electrode.
Such a display device can suitably be used, for example, to display alpha-numerical information and to display video information by means of passive electro-optical media such as liquid crystals, electrophoretic materials and electrochromic materials.
A display device of the type mentioned in the opening paragraph is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,151,691. Means for charging the pixel, prior to selection, to a voltage at the boundary of or beyond the range for picture display (also referred to as "resetting") are provided, comprising a distributed capacitance between the row electrode and the common electrode for each row of pixels. In addition, each common electrode is connected to a reference voltage via an additional diode to periodically recharge the capacitance. Particularly in display devices having relatively large dimensions, the charge stored in said capacitance for resetting must be large enough to supply the current necessary for resetting. Besides, as described in said Patent Specification, the voltage drop across the pixel as a result of switching effects must be minimized. To this end, the width of the row electrode in U.S. Pat. No. 5,151,691 is approximately 1/15 of the height of a pixel. This is at the expense of the aperture (effective viewing area).
In addition, the provision of the capacitance requires additional process steps, while recharging the capacitances requires an additional diode for each row of pixels.